CBS TENINO WOODEN MONEY SEGMENT

Bob Fritsch writes:

Like a lot of small towns, Tenino, Washington, was hit hard economically by the COVID shutdown. Residents like Laurie Mahlenbrei, an out-of-work schoolbus driver, have been struggling. "It's been really difficult," she said. "I mean, I've been washing windows, scrubbing floors, cutting down trees, mowing lawns, whatever I can for a buck."

But there's something unusual going on in this town of 1,800 people. The city government of Tenino is doing what it can to help folks like Mahlenbrei, not with a check, or even a debit card, but with – believe it or not – a pile of wood.

"Every once in a while I run into a cashier that hasn't taken it before," said Mahlenbrei. "But it's just a blast, you know? I mean, I'm paying for food with something historical, you know?"

And it's not the first time. In fact, the city issued its first wooden currency way back in 1931, during the Great Depression.

Tenino's COVID-era wood currency is printed on the same machine, an 1890 Chandler & Price platen press.

Loren Ackerman, the president of the Tenino Depot Museum, is the only person in town who knows how to operate the 19th century machine that printed Tenino's Depression-Era currency. "You're literally printing money," said correspondent Luke Burbank.

On wood!

The wood money has drawn attention from all over the world. But lest anyone chalk it up as just a joke or a publicity stunt, it's been much more than that to people like Laurie Mahlenbrei.

"It's been a godsend, you know?" she said. "I mean, I could buy things that I couldn't buy because, like I said, I was scrapping for any kind of work I could get. I was barely being able to buy food."

When Burbank caught up with her, Mahlenbrei was buying groceries with her wooden money. But she could have also paid her water bill with it, got her prescriptions filled at Hedden's, the town drug store, or even had a tasty meal at Don Juan's Mexican Kitchen.

To read the complete article, see:
Hard currency: One Washington city prints its own money on wood (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hard-currency-one-washington-city-prints-its-own-money-on-wood/)

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